Elderly residents will be forced to leave their home as the closure of their care home looms ahead.

A decision to close Hobkirk House in New Malden is set to be made official at a council meeting tonight.

Hobkirk House, which currently has six residents and Murray House in Kingston, which houses 22 people, are the borough’s only remaining council-run care homes.

Both homes will eventually face closure as the council prepares to shake up the way the elderly are looked after in Kingston.

Current plans suggest Hobkirk House will be closed by July 31 this year, but Councillor Julie Pickering, lead member for health and social care, said the council would "work around residents" to make sure the transition was as easy as possible.

She said: "It has got to that point when you need to decide what the way forward is. It is always going to be a sensitive and hard decision to make.

"We need to work with the residents and their families to decide what is best for them.

"Whatever happens I envision a ‘Hobkirk House Two’ that will still cater for elderly people’s needs but in a more efficient way.

"Eventually we will have to look at what to do with Murray House but both sites are still earmarked for elderly person accommodation."

Murray House is also the current base for the Milaap Centre, a multicultural club for older people from ethnic backgrounds. Its closure could see the social club also forced out after 10 years at the site.

This week Councillor Ian George visited Hobkirk House and tweeted that it was "humbling to see the work staff are doing in order to help older people with needs".

Savings from the closure of the home were already outlined in this year’s council budget, however Coun Pickering said that this had just been a "budget precaution" and did not mean the decision was made months ago.

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